chsdbacks Chapter 9: A Mix of Joy and Sorrow
Chapter 9: A Mix of Joy and Sorrow
That being said, according to Zhou Ye's plan, the most important task for the next two days was—farming.
According to the local agricultural calendar, it's best to plant some crops during these few days. Then, when the autumn harvest comes, a new round of winter wheat can be planted in time, ensuring efficient use of the farmland.
So Zhou Ye spent the whole morning busy turning over the soil, digging out grass roots, making ridges, and digging drainage ditches... As for digging an irrigation canal from the stream? The workload was simply too large, so he decided to leave it for the time being.
Unfortunately, all we had were hoes and shovels, which weren't enough to deeply till the soil, so the results were minimal. Wouldn't it be better to have an iron plow? Okay! And wouldn't it be even better to have an ox? Hmm!
Under these conditions, it's impossible to cultivate the land in depth. Although it will certainly affect the harvest, as long as there is a harvest, that's fine.
At noon, Zhou Ye selected the largest fish. He cut off the head and tail, and used the middle section of the fish with pickled vegetables and fermented bean paste to make a braised fish dish.
In the evening, I used the remaining fish head and tail to make soup, adding a lot of lettuce and carrots...
However, the remaining fish are a headache, as they are difficult to dry into dried fish in the summer. Building a smokehouse is not the most urgent need at the moment.
In the end, all the fish had to be salted, which used up more than 2 pounds of salt.
This made Zhou Ye quite distressed, as he only had about 20 kilograms of salt left! And he had already used up one-tenth of it all at once?
Therefore, the Air Force plan collapsed midway. The hunting trip was put on hold for the time being.
Fortunately, after two days of work, the two acres of land have been completely cultivated.
One and a half acres were planted with soybeans, three-tenths of an acre with peas, one-tenth of an acre with black beans, and the remaining one-tenth of an acre was planted with various vegetables.
The reason for this distribution is that although black beans have a higher yield, they don't taste as good as peas.
Furthermore, during these two days of training, I mastered both basic thrusting and basic throwing techniques and gained 2 free attribute points.
Through further exploration, Zhou Ye finally triggered the basic movement technique (unorthodox): not yet mastered (0/10).
Thinking of the round shield, after some random actions, I inexplicably triggered—Basic Shield Bash (Unskilled): Beginner (0/10)
So he swung the mace again, and as expected, it triggered—Basic Hammering (Unskilled): Beginner (0/10)
However, the experience points for these attributes increase even slower. Basic Agility only grants 5 points per day, and Basic Shield Bash only grants a mere 3 points.
The most frustrating thing is the basic hammer strike. Because your strength is too weak, you train like crazy all day, only to gain 2 points in the end?
Oh well! At least I got a basic martial arts skill. As long as it can be triggered, that's already pretty good.
The next time they moved from the old campsite, they carried away a whole 50-pound bag of rice on a shoulder pole, along with several baskets of fresh vegetables. They should still be considered fresh...right? There were also three bundles of straw rope.
Back at the small camp, Zhou Ye worked for two more days, finally completing the fence and surrounding it with wooden stakes...
……
Seeing the results of his construction, Zhou Ye laughed heartily with satisfaction. With this wall, he finally felt a sense of security. Surviving in this wilderness wouldn't be so dangerous anymore. And he could "return to the earth," moving his tent down from the bamboo raft...
The first phase of the mission has come to an end.
For the next 10 days, Zhou Ye temporarily stopped everything else. He went back and forth to the old camp five times to move all the food and other odds and ends over.
The more complete items included 4 bags of rice (50 jin each, not specified again), 2 bags of flour, a little over 1 bag of soybeans, and 2 bags of potatoes. The potatoes were edible. There were also several dozen jin each of peas and black beans. Finally, there were 3 bags of wheat grains. There were also some miscellaneous items.
Since the wheat grains weren't ground into flour, they could only be used as seeds for winter wheat. What if you just cooked it into wheat porridge? That stuff would be hard to swallow. It's not very tasty. But if you have no other choice, it can still fill your stomach.
However, only half a salted meat and the four salted fish remained.
In addition, there were three water vats and five wooden buckets. That was all the old campsite had to offer.
After filling one of the water tanks with stream water, wood ash was added. In the wild, when in doubt, wood ash can serve a small cleansing purpose.
After the wood ash had settled for a day, the clear water on top was poured into another water vat, and a few pieces of charcoal were added to absorb the impurities. Zhou Ye also brought a small bag of charcoal for this purpose.
After another day of adsorption, the remaining clear water is poured into the final water tank, making it safe to use. Drinking water will be boiled before consumption.
In this way, the problem of staple food has been solved, and even drinking water is guaranteed to the greatest extent.
In addition, there were all the shoes in the old camp, including the two pairs of leather boots left by the soldiers, as well as three pairs of cloth shoes and 62 pairs of straw sandals, some new and some old.
You know what, due to the long journey, the leather boots I had worn out quickly, and I've even worn out two pairs of straw sandals.
Finally, there were the three tents left at the old campsite. All that stuff needed a place to be stored.
As for the progress of cultivation... there are both good and bad things!
Zhou Ye first mastered the basic movement techniques and unsurprisingly gained 1 free attribute point.
However, after mastering the basic shield bash, the interface displays a warning: "Note: You can only receive a maximum of five beginner rewards for martial arts skills of the same level. You will no longer receive free attribute points afterward. But this will not affect subsequent training!"
Zhou Ye nearly fainted from anger. How could they not give him the entry reward?
In his frustration, Zhou Ye remained determined and gritted his teeth to master the basic hammering technique. But in the end, he was disappointed; there was indeed no reward.
Judging from this, the panel wouldn't have such a large loophole; it's impossible to farm points indefinitely. There are at most five martial arts techniques at the same level!
Since that's the case, you now have 4 free attribute points. Keep 1 point for later use, and for the other 3, put 1 point into Strength and the other 2 into Agility.
The weakness in strength is too great. After adding points, at least I'll be able to carry more things.
As for agility, it's essential to maintain its strength. We need to maximize its advantages. My current agility is already +5, which is more than 50% faster than the average person. That's quite fast, isn't it?
[Zhou Ye (Ordinary Person): 14]
Root bone: -3
Comprehension: +3
[Basic Data]
Life: (80/80)
Strength: -2
Agility: +5
Constitution: -2
Essence: +4
Charisma: -2
[Technique]
[Martial Arts]
Basic Chopping (Very Basic): Beginner (19/50)
Basic Archery (Unskilled): Beginner (0/50)
Basic Thrust (Unskilled): Beginner (0/50)
Basic Throwing (Beginner): Beginner (1/50)
Basic Body Techniques (Unskilled): Beginner (1/50)
Basic Shield Bash (Beginner): Beginner (0/50)
Basic Hammering (Unskilled): Beginner (0/50)
Free attribute points: 1